Thursday 17 May 2012 15.38 EDT
First published on Thursday 17 May 2012 15.38 EDT

It's a tough job working for a bailed-out bank that owes the taxpayer about £20bn – so exhausting, indeed, that Lloyds Banking Group dispatched a dozen top bosses on a luxury spa break at Champneys designed to teach them to eat like an executive and learn how to be more effective "hunter-gatherers in the corporate jungle".

The celebrity spa resort created a "bespoke programme" to prevent the executives from "bail out, burn out or being booted out". The bank is just under 40% owned by the UK taxpayer.

Tim Bean, the celebrity trainer who designed Lloyds' personally tailored programme, said the two-day trip last November was designed to teach the bankers "how to manage their chaotic lives". Bean, who promotes himself with the nickname "The Merciless Mr Bean", said he created a personal workout programme for each of the 12 bankers and tutored them on "executive nutrition".

Bean said one seminar, called Hunter-Gatherers in the Corporate Jungle, was designed to "re-equip them with the skills of alpha males and females".

The executives were also given advice on the latest developments in "physique management" and even "anti-ageing".

A spokesman for Lloyds said: "It is important to stress that this was a free one-off event that a small group attended last year at the request of a customer who wanted feedback on a new programme they planned to launch. It was arranged by a senior executive who no longer works for the group."

However, the chief executive of Champneys, Stephen Purdew, said: "Of course they bloody paid for it." He declined to state how much the event cost, but similar stays start at £995 per person.